1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to image processing and, more particularly, to guidewire tracking using phase congruency.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Endovascular interventions are becoming increasingly more common in the treatment of arterial disease like atherosclerosis. In such procedures, a guidewire is placed in the femoral artery in the groin and advanced towards the heart. Central to this process is accurate placement of the guidewire with respect to the vascular anatomy, which can be imaged using X-ray fluoroscopy. However, placement is often difficult due to the complexity of the vasculature, patient motion and, in the case of X-ray video, the low signal-to-noise ratio of the video that is a result of trying to minimize the patient radiation exposure.
Tracking a guidewire to a targeted site has many applications, such as for example, endovascular procedures. During an endovascular procedure, it would be beneficial to adaptively enhance the image around the guidewire location to reduce the noise and increase the guidewire conspicuity. Such enhancements would require an accurate determination of the image pixels that represent the guidewire.